Huntington Beach, CA – Duke’s (HDR)

Take a cruise to Huntington Beach and when you arrive at the Pier…you cannot miss Duke’s! A great place to have lunch or dinner while overlooking the beach and ocean. Here you can watch a few volleyball games or surfers catching a few waves. I arrived this early AM and enjoyed the peaceful view before the beach crowd arrived. Life is a beach!

Peter Talke Photography Settings:
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4.0
Setting: Aperture Mode
Focal Length: 14.0 mm
ISO: 200
Exposure: HDR 7 Exposures (+3 to -3)
Aperture: f/11
Gear: Tripod
Post Process: Adobe CS6, HDR Efex Pro, OnOne Software Photo Tools 2.6

Laguna Beach, CA (HDR)

I posted a similar photo in infrared a few weeks back. I liked the location so much I decided to shoot it in HDR as well. Now all HDR artists know well…HDR + mid afternoon = blah. How did I help out the blahs? I shot this HDR with ND Filter. In day light with a hint of clouds I anted to maximize my exposure times. The ND filter helped out this mid day HDR tremendously. They say not to HDR in mid-day…I say why not!

Peter Talke Photography Settings:

Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4.0
Setting: Manual Mode
Filter: B&W ND #106 1.8-64X
Focal Length: 18.0mm
ISO: 200
Exposure: HDR 5 Exposures (+2 to -2)
Aperture: f/8
Gear: Tripod
Post Process: Adobe CS6, NIK Color Efex Pro 3, NIK HDR Efex

Water Polo HDR Composite

Here is the wonderful Casey posing at the San Clemente Pier in this HDR Composite. Casey plays for the local Water Polo team. They just completed their season and are now CIF Champions! Congrats to the team and Casey! Great season!! This HDR Composite uses of my my new backgrounds now available to purchase! You can find it here…San Clemente Pier. All backgrounds can be seen here…

1) Peter Talke Photography
2) Denny Mfg.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!!

Laguna Beach, CA – Victoria Beach (HDR)

Laguna Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in SoCal. One place I had never been until recently was Victoria Beach. Park on PCH, walk through a few streets, down some steps and walk over some tricky rocks and you have arrived! It is a private public beach. The main attraction is the tower that was built in 1926. It was designed to provide spiraling stairs down from the cliffs above. The design is a Victorian Lighthouse. A very cool spot, but be careful walking up with your gear. Waves were crashing up on the rocks….luckily not too large this day.

As for the photo…not something I do very often…shoot an HDR in extreme sunlight. For this reason I used a B&W Filter – Neutral Density #106 1.8-64X. It helps with longer exposures.

Peter Talke Photography Settings:

Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4.0
Setting: Manual Mode
Filter: B&W ND #106 1.8-64X
Focal Length: 20.0mm
ISO: 200
Exposure: HDR 5 Exposures (+2 to -2)
Aperture: f/20
Gear: Tripod
Post Process: Adobe CS5, Color Efex Pro, HDR Efex Pro

Laguna Beach, CA – Infrared

What is a photog to do in SoCal when it is sunny most of the time? Shoot in Infrared. This shot is from Laguna Beach. A short walk from the Montage Spa & Hotel overlooking the Pacific Ocean. You can see a small part of it in the pic. This is my favorite spot in all of SoCal. You can find some seats that overlook the sea along the walking path and if you are here at sunset…stunning views! On this day about 1 mile out from the coast I could see a whale pop out of the ocean! How cool is that! If you are even in SoCal…Laguna has lots to offer!

San Clemente, CA – Pier (HDR)

While shooting our XMas card in San Clemente at the Pier, we finished early and I took a few HDR’s of the pier at sunset. I’m thinking of making a run of SoCal pier shots over the next year or so and possibly making a photo e-book? I’m a big fan of piers in HDR’s. Might make a cool coffee table book in my studio one day??

This shot above was a different angle and a “Photoshop Action” to give it the tone. I have learned to enjoy actions. If you use NIK or onOne…relatively about the same output…but there are so many more actions out there! Google “Photoshop Actions”…you can buy some cool ones and find some for free!

Peter Talke Photography Settings:
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4.0
Setting: Aperture Mode
Focal Length: 22.0 mm
ISO: 200
Exposure: HDR 7 Exposures (+3 to -3)
Aperture: f/22
Gear: Tripod
Post Process: Adobe CS6, HDR Efex Pro, Photoshop Action

San Clemente, CA – Pier

We spent Saturday and Sunday in San Clemente at the Pier shooting some sessions and this was my first visit! Such a cute little beach area! I did not bring my gear for HDR’s or IR. But will plan to visit in the next week or so to get some sunset shots!! The photo above is just hand held standard photo with a texture added. A beautiful day in SoCal!! Look for more pics from here soon! Enjoy!

Newport Beach, CA – Pier (HDR)

We are planning to move from Austin soon. Our destination….Orange County, CA. I had lived there for a few years and it will be great to be back! Places like Newport Beach will be in my backyard. I’m excited about my future photographs. I will plan to master long exposure at the beaches. Portraits at the beaches. Texas will be missed. Bring on the In-N-Out burgers!!

Talke Photography Settings

Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4.0
Setting: Aperture Mode
Focal Length: 19.0 mm
ISO: 200
Exposure: HDR 5 Exposures (+2 to -2)
Aperture: f/4
Gear: Tripod
Post Process: Adobe CS5, HDR Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, OnOne Software Photo Tools 2.6

Miami, Florida – South Beach (HDR)

Happy New Year everyone! 2012 is gonna be the best year yet!! The shot above is from an early AM at South Beach. It s a little cool here in TX today…a day at the beach sounds good!!! I know our holidays are over…but why not take another??? Stay warm!

Laguna Beach, CA – Infrared

From on my favorite locations in the US…Laguna Beach, CA. Picturesque coastline, great restaurants and wonderful art galleries! At Main Beach you can find a spots to enjoy the sun on the beach or play a game of volleyball or basketball on the beach as well. This shot was taken while walking down the beach from the Montage Spa & Resort…the best spot in Laguna with amazing views out the back of the hotel! I processed the glow effect with the new onOne’s Photo Suite 6…Perfect Effects 3!

Talke Photography Settings:
Camera: Nikon D70S (Converted to Infrared)
Infrared Conversion: D70S modified by LifePixel
Lens: Nikon 18-200 f/3.5-5.6
Setting: Aperture Mode
Focal Length: 48.0mm
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: f/16
Gear: Hand Held
Post Process: Adobe CS5, onOne Software Perfect Effects 3, Silver Efex Pro 2